The most notable defeat last week in Washington was the speech given by Richard Lugar, the senior statesman and senator from Indiana and voice of moderate Republicanism. On Monday, Lugar announced that he had concluded that the surge was irrelevant: "The prospects that the current surge strategy will succeed . . . are very limited within the period framed by our own domestic political debate." And while President Bush may want to hang tough, "the resulting contentiousness with Congress would make cooperation on national security issues nearly impossible." That is, Bush's commitment to victory is disrupting Lugar's desire to restore bipartisanship.
Lugar allowed that the surge might well improve things in Iraq. Indeed he allowed that they already have: "I do not doubt the assessments of military commanders that there has been progress in security." But he doesn't even want to hear General David Petraeus's report in September. "Persisting indefinitely with the surge strategy will delay policy adjustments that have a better chance of protecting our vital interests over the long term."
The ghost of the Baker Commisision stalks the halls of Congress. I like it no more now than I did in the fall.
If Lugar and his ilk think that joining in the surrender parade will increase his party's chances in 2008, he is sadly mistaken. Eventually perhaps, after the Left embraces the defeat, his party will befeit in the election of 2012, but not this soon. And it is sheer delusion to think that the other side of the aisle will do anything but exploit the defeat to send his party into electoral oblivion.
This is shameful political maneuvering. And stupid, too.
Al Qaeda slaughters innocent Iraqis when they bug out. Our Congress would never stoop to directly killing Iraqis.
